Legacy of the empty McDonald's\nJoetta Hinton's Sept. 2 article "Chipotle comes to Kirkwood," while accurate, omitted quite a lot about the closed store's story. \nTrue, McDonald's was a place to meet friends or family while it was open, but it did not cease to be such a place when it closed. In fact, it was the meeting grounds for several groups. Food not Bombs gave food to the hungry every Sunday and chess players could often be seen at the tables. A guerilla garden had sprung up complete with tiny angel figurines and a mint plant, which was perfect for tea. And the boarded-up windows had been covered in murals. \nWhat was once a hallmark of corporate capitalism had been transformed into a community autonomous zone. \nThe old McDonald's was a place to sit and chat in the shade and a place to run to when it began to rain. Replacing it with another chain that exploits its workers, pollutes the environment, attempts to drive out local business and destroys family farms by maintaining industrialized agriculture will be the true eyesore. \nWe can only hope that Chipotle will soon meet the same fate as its predecessor.
Bridget Kennedy\nJunior
More to Chipotle than meets the eye\nI was happy to see the toxic eyesore that was McDonald's crushed into rubble this summer, but your article "Chipotle comes to Kirkwood" (Sept. 2) omitted one essential fact about its replacement. The Chipotle name and franchise are owned and controlled by the McDonald's Corporation of Oak Brook, Ill. \nMcDonald's tries to downplay the link, but Chipotle is their corporate attempt to turn the burrito into a bland commodity, in the same way they've already ruined billions of hamburgers, as well as the diets and health of millions of Americans.\nBloomington needs to resist this move. Within a few blocks of Chipotle's proposed location we already enjoy Laughing Planet, La Bamba and Tacos Don Chuy. All of these restaurants use more nutritious ingredients to create more authentic and better-tasting Mexican food. \nI've eaten the food that Chipotle churns out at its hundreds of other outlets, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.\nChipotle's attempt to move in where McDonald's failed is cynical -- and, literally, tasteless.
Matt Rowe\nGraduate student
BPTC didn't avoid student input\nYour Sept. 2 edition carried the front page story "Local bus move denied." I realize that paraphrased comments attributed to IU Student Association President Tyson Chastain may have been inaccurately reported, so I want to help the record. \nI have been a member of the Bloomington Public Transportation Committee since January. Since then, the Park and Ride issue has been discussed at each of the two regularly scheduled monthly meetings I have attended.\nIn addition, the Bryan Park issue has been discussed during several other public forums and planning meetings since October, 2003. It did not arise suddenly this summer while students were away. \nThe only BPTC meeting Chastain attended was the public hearing on Park and Ride Aug. 3, and he spoke articulately on behalf of the students. In an Aug. 18 e-mail, I complimented Tyson on his remarks, alerted him to the critical nature of the Parks Board public meeting Aug. 24 and encouraged him to attend on behalf of the interests of IU students. \nHe responded by e-mail that he would. \nAt that meeting, the Parks Board deferred action on the Park and Ride to Aug. 31. Though BPTC board members and its manager attended the Aug. 31 meeting to petition the Parks Board for a parking location for IU students, no one in attendance spoke as an IU student or as a student representative.\nYour paraphrased statements attributed to Tyson that he attended all meetings concerning the issue during the summer but did not attend the two Parks Board meetings because IUSA was not informed of them are both inaccurate. He attended one meeting and was advised of the Parks Board meeting by me.\nThe BPTC, under the leadership of its chairman, has expressed its continued interest in exploring a viable option for the parking lot component necessary for a Park and Ride program. \nHomeowners in city neighborhoods made their opinions clear about additional buses and student car traffic on their residential streets. The Park Board made its opinion clear that city parks are no longer appropriate sites for the "parking lot" component required. \nIf students truly feel that a Park and Ride program is important, the IUSA must actively lobby both the university and the city to assist the BPTC in its efforts to identify all remaining parking alternatives.
John Whikehart\nMember of the Bloomington Public Transportation Committee
Wal-Mart story missing facts\nGlorifying Wal-Mart's aisles as "hallowed halls" and praising the low prices that the corporation is able to maintain gives readers only half of the picture of this supermarket giant ("Freshmen flock to Wal-Mart," Aug. 30). \nComing from southern California, I was able to witness first-hand the negative effects that Wal-Mart can have. Unionized supermarkets were forced to cut employee wages and benefits to compete with non-union stores like Wal-Mart, forcing a strike by the unions that lasted weeks (by most measures the strike ended with the unions losing considerable ground). \nWal-Mart, because of the lack of a union, is able to pay its employees less than its competitors, allowing it to save money, buy in bulk and drive other businesses out of the market. In response, residents of communities in southern California now routinely petition against the development of Wal-Marts. \nA news article concerning a university event that supports a corporate action such as Midnight Madness is wanting if the writer fails to explain that the low prices at Wal-Mart come at a cost to local businesses, Wal-Mart employees and the job market in the nearby area.
Paul Coover\nFreshman
Remembering Pat Siddons \nAn old friend recently sent me a link to the Indiana Daily Student story about the passing of former publisher Pat Siddons. Siddons was in his final few years as publisher when I first wandered into the IDS newsroom as a freshman in 1988. As your recent story recounts, those who worked at the paper during his tenure as publisher were lucky to have worked for someone with his breadth of experience and high journalistic standards.\nSiddons always stood behind the newsroom and was one of the last "grown-ups" around Ernie Pyle who seemed to understand the impact that a daily student-run, paid-circulation paper could have on the University and community. Student reporters and editors at the paper during his tenure never had the feeling that their publisher was second-guessing them or pushing the paper in any one direction to accommodate faculty or administration wishes. He was sorely missed after his retirement and will be remembered fondly now that he's left us for good.
Bruce Gray\nIDS alum
Calling rappers to action\nIt's encouraging to see Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, rap mogul, actor and fashion designer, and other artists campaigning to get young Americans, especially young black Americans, to vote. He even has a VOTE OR DIE T-shirt. What irony. Perhaps Mr. Combs and his entourage can visit most of our inner cities across this great nation and campaign to help stop young black men from killing each other. On July 23, like thousands of black men before him, my 25-year-old nephew was shot and killed on the streets of our nation's capital. My nephew will never vote, nor will his killer, because dead men can't vote and neither can convicted felons. No one can deny that rap music and their artists have had a tremendous effect on this generation. Let those in the rap industry now step up to the plate and use their influence and money to help turn this crisis around.
Pamela A. Hairston\nWashington, DC
IU hazing policy uneven \nI'm writing this in hopes of pointing out the biases in the reaction toward hazing held by the University. Although it may be just coincidence that all of the freshman members of the IU cross country team were caught running in nothing but jock-straps, doesn't it seem the least bit possible that hazing was involved? Yet the University announced that since alcohol was not present, there will be no investigation into the possibility of hazing. \nCan hazing only exist when alcohol is present? More to the point, is this the same reaction University officials would have if those students were pledging a greek house? \nThe University is willing to kick greek students out of their homes before a court of law even finds them guilty of hazing, yet when one of their own sponsored sports teams engages in the same type of behavior, University officials turn their back. \nThis campus claims to have a zero-tolerance policy towards hazing, but apparently that only applies to the greek community.
Chad Spiegel\nJunior
Campus conservatives underrepresented\nI am respectfully asking for a reason that the IDS opinion page constantly publishes articles written by individuals who have little or no respect for Christianity? This campus has conservative Christians who are tired of being misrepresented.\nIf someone at the IDS wants to accurately represent Christianity, they should say things such as: \n1. Jesus Christ is the only way to God (John 14:6). Stating Christian doctrine such as this does not automatically make a Christian arrogant or disrespectful.\n2. Christians believe that sin is a drastic problem that God deals with very seriously (John 3:16-21).\n3. Being a Christian means that one is limited as to what can be deemed acceptable behavior (I Corinthians 6:9-11). \n4. Christians have to believe that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:21-32; Leviticus 18:22). \nI do not think that I am perfect or without sin. However, I do believe God has the power to create a new and sinless me, as he can with anyone.\nI find it interesting that Rick Newkirk saw it necessary to comment on the Christian minority known as Calvinists in the way that he did. I am not going to get into an argument about why he was wrong, but he shared false information about the entire doctrine and had he researched it, would have had a few more respectful things to say rather than summing up the doctrine with the highly intelligent "GoodScrew." \nThis is not an isolated incident for the IDS. It seems to me that the coverage should be more balanced. I hope you understand that I think the IDS does a poor job of presenting both sides of any issue. In articles that I have read that attempt to talk about controversial issues, such as the huge gay marriage article from last year, the liberal side was presented and then the conservative side was represented by someone who feels like they have to be politically correct and cannot speak their mind. \nI hope that I am wrong about this stuff and that I simply do not read the IDS enough, but I am pretty sure that these thoughts are right on.
Jacob Johnston\nJunior
Conservation matters\nOne of the best article I have read since I came to this country is Benjames Derrick's "Fight The War, Conserve Energy" (Sept. 6). It is good to know that there is at least one man who cares and thinks about conservation. \nI didn't have to be in America for long to witness how Americans take things for granted. Energy (oil) and many of the natural resources are used up and wasted here without anyone thinking twice about them. A lot of American people, to me, don't know how to save energy -- at least they don't have a sense or are aware enough to do so. \nDerrick is right, none of us wants to be a hermit, to live in the woods in order to conserve energy. Simply start now. Campaign against the overuse of plastic cups, plates, containers, eating utensils, etc, in the cafeteria or fast food shops. It doesn't only help the business save on expenses, it helps save the environment. Stop throwing them away. Recycle them. \nPerhaps IU can start using plates that can be reused in its cafeterias. Clean them instead of discarding them. What Americans need is education. The way to start is with the children. Teach them. Educate them. Show them so that they know how valuable natural resources are. Don't take them for granted.
Ratchanee Chatsantikul\nGraduate student
